Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 2 — page 91: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE TORCH. found room for a thrilling admiration, not for her physical beauty and charm alone, but for her quick intelligence and nobility. He was mentally and spiritually in a state of chaos, and there was nothing in the world he knew to serve as his compass. . Zorn addressed him: “ Captain, do you give me your word as a soldier to accept this decision, to live among us here for thirty days, to study our purpose with an open mind, and then declare whether you are for or against us?” He accepted this strange reprieve me- chanically, too vastly amazed to feel relief even at an escape from certain death. “You will have the freedom of the is- land,” Zorn instructed him. “I will give you every facility to learn the plans and purpose of the Comrades of the Torch. I ask you to judge with an open mind. And while you are among us, studying on an equality, bear in mind your position. To try to escape, to attempt any treachery, means your death.” The meeting turned its attention to other business. In a few moments Fortune Was as forgotten as if he had never been. He sat toward the rear of the platform, alone, absorbed for a time in his own bewilder- ment, When gradually he became aware of other events and began to listen he heard news fully as astonishing as anything that had happened to him. It was a remark of the sooty-faced armor- er, a man they called Gross, that recalled his attention. | “The stocking of our secret arsenal in the old, blind tunnels has made progress,” this man was declaring. ‘“ The task is a difficult one when each man must do what he can at such times as the police-guard are not near, but every man of us is in- spired to do his best. Of shields and breast- plates we have enough already for a thou- sand men. In swords we are still lacking, because the forging of a sword is work for a skilled man, and we who can do that are fewer. But there I saw bows for two thou- sand and a great store of arrows. Spear- points, too, we have in plenty, and our brothers of the wood-shops will bring in the shafts. Comrades, we men of the forges. 6 Arcosy 241 are not shirking! May the gods speed the day when our work will see its reward.” Applause greeted this report. Other men in turn brought messages, and Fortune be- gan to realize with a tingle of excitement that the veiled distrust of the Folk he had heard among the High-born was not without foundation. Rebellion was brewing! And it became clear to him that this was no ordinary outburst of passion, not one of the sudden, sporadic uprisings which had been more or less common in his time, This was more than rebellion—they were plotting revolution, And not only were these men plotting— they were doing. A superior intelligence was guiding them, and it needed no second thought to guess that that intelligence was this black-robed man, Zorn. And another thing impressed him. These men who talked—plainly they were agents sent out among the Folk to spread the propaganda of revolution—spoke with a clear understanding and reflected a stern purpose. They were far above the Folk in their grasp of the situation. They recog- nized the weaknesses of their schemes, de- plored the cross-purposes of selfish inter- ests, discussed the necessity of a unified . plan, : In short, they were educated men—me fully as capable of planning and carrying out a plan as the soldiers of the Tower Rule, and far more capable than they in one thing, a stern inflexibility of purpose. The thing was a miracle! Where had men of the Folk got this knowledge? How? | Again Fortune saw behind them the master hand of Zorn. For the black-robed genius whose power ex-~ - tended in secret throughout the Under City he conceived an admiration that amounted to awe. Why, if one dared suppose for an instant that this mad plan could succeed, Zorn threatened the power of the Directorate itself. Given the chance, he might become the Great Towerman—a man more power- ful than Wolff! What Fortune could not comprehend was the magic Zorn had used to bind men to him. He heard frequent repetition of such phrases as: “‘ That freedom which was the COPMNICLOOOKS (C@